Looks like we're keeping good company

Koch Bros. / Art Pope network publish North Carolina 'hit list'

Is there a vast left-wing conspiracy in North Carolina? The folks at Art Pope's right-wing think tank Civitas Institute seem to think so.

This week Civitas announced publication of a new website, "Mapping the Left", to connect the dots between the people, groups, and funders of the 'Red Menace'.

North Carolina's unions - including the state AFL-CIO and some of our affiliates like the American Postal Workers Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, and the Southern Piedmont Central Labor Council - are, as ever, targets of the right-wing for our dastardly efforts to raise wages, organize workers, and hold politicians accountable for undermining working families, students, retirees, and the unemployed.

We will never be intimidated by right-wing bullies in our efforts to improve the lives of working families in North Carolina, and thanks to Civitas hard work, we find ourselves in good company:

• AARP of North Carolina - for working to improve the health and retirement security of all North Carolinians
• North Carolina Justice Center - for thoughtful, detailed research and analysis, and advocacy for policies that would create opportunity and prosperity for all - not just the rich
• Democracy North Carolina - for trying to encourage voter participation and reduce the corrupting influence of money in politics, including opposition to North Carolina's monster voting law
• Equality North Carolina - for its efforts to secure equal rights and justice at home, in school, and in the workplace for all North Carolinians regardless of who they are or whom they love
• Center for Responsible Lending - for fighting predatory lending
• Action North Carolina - for organizing people to fight poverty and inequality in their own communities
• Health Access Coalition - for working to expand access to quality, affordable health care - including Medicaid expansion to low-income adults
• Student Action with Farmworkers - for bringing farm workers, students, and advocates together to end the abuse of workers in North Carolina agriculture
• North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence - for providing support and services to thousands of victims of domestic violence every year in North Carolina
• North Carolina Sierra Club - for advocating for a clean, healthy, and safe environment for current and future citizens
• North Carolina Council of Churches - for promoting Christian unity and working toward a more just society
• Moral Monday - for bringing North Carolinians from all walks of life together to oppose the regressive, reactionary agenda of state lawmakers
• North Carolina NAACP - for advocating for civil and voting rights for all North Carolinians - in the courts and on the streets - and for launching the Moral Monday movement

Civitas' hit list goes on and on, naming not just organizations but people connected to them - like our leaders James Andrews, MaryBe McMillan, and the entire staff and executive board of our state federation.

The common thread that seems to run through Meeting the Left is that all the groups and people Civitas targeted, in one way or another, oppose some or all of Art Pope's extremist agenda - which makes sense since Civitas is (almost) entirely funded by Art Pope.

Want to see how one man funds a vast right-wing network in North Carolina? Check out this graphic, The World of Art Pope, published by Indy Week.

For laughs, check out the parody site Mapping the Right.

Pictured above is the top-level map of groups and their connections as asserted by the creators of mappingtheleft.com.